The Fantastic Four ushered in Marvel Comics' Silver Age when the World's Greatest Comic Magazine debuted in 1961. Much like the stars of the book themselves who were explorers, the comic book series itself became a pioneer in the world of superhero comic books. The stable of heroes that Stan Lee and his various collaborators would create over the next few years would follow the lead set by the Fantastic Four.
While other characters and comic book series would come to surpass the Fantastic Four in terms of popularity and original ideas, the Fantastic Four have never been made obsolete. In fact, there are many things the Fantastic Four comics have done that haven't been achieved by any other Marvel comic.
10 The Fantastic Four Made Its Characters Into In-Universe Celebrities
Marvel Comics is home to the most misunderstood heroes ever. The press constantly attacks Spider-Man, the military hunts down the Hulk, and the X-Men are hated and feared. Not so with the Fantastic Four. Marvel's first family has always been open to the public about who they are. While other heroes have secret identities or even go into hiding to take the heat off them, Reed Richards is giving speeches about his latest research paper and Johnny Storm is flaunting his celebrity status to get into the hottest night club.
9 The Fantastic Four Celebrates An Unconventional Couple
Comic books are full of beautiful characters. Much like movies and TV, attractive characters are a draw for audiences, and it's even better when they get together romantically. The Fantastic Four comics goes another route by putting together a rock-skinned man and a blind woman.
Permanently trapped as the Thing, Ben Grimm feels ugly but finds love with blind sculptress Alicia Masters. They end up in an enduring relationship that's unexpected, not based on looks, and is one of the best pairings ever.
8 Reed Richards Gets Along With Alternate Versions Of Himself
Different versions of the main character have a tendency to pop up on occasion. Sometimes a hero has to fight a version of himself from an alternate Earth, and sometimes he sees a possible future version of himself die. Reed Richards changes this up by making an alliance with his alternate selves. The Council of Reeds is a group of multi-dimensional versions of Reed Richards that consult each other on a regular basis. Given Reed's vast intellect and ability to think outside the box, only he could pull this off.
7 The Invisible Girl Successfully Became The Invisible Woman
While superheroes have the word "man" as part of their name, super heroines tend to use the word "girl" rather than woman. A holdover from a different era, it's hard to change a character's code name to "woman" and have it stick.
Sue Storm was the Invisible Girl for over twenty years, and it didn't seem like that would ever change. After Psycho-Man turned Sue into the villain Malice, Sue decided she didn't want to go back to being the Invisible Girl and became the Invisible Woman from then on.
6 Children Age Naturally In The Pages Of Fantastic Four
Time in comic books moves slower in comics than in real life, and determining the passage of time in a comic book can be tricky. Having a young character age makes things harder, oftentimes, a comic book will just use an external force to age a character. The Fantastic Four didn't do that with Franklin Richards.
Franklin was born in the early days of The Fantastic Four and throughout the decades, has aged from baby to toddler to pre-teen. Likewise, his sister Valeria, despite her advanced intelligence and maturity, also aged naturally.
5 The Fantastic Four Had The Same Creative Team For Over A Hundred Issues
Stan Lee and Jack Kirby are a legendary team, and they did their best work during the Silver Age on Fantastic Four. Beginning with the very first issue in 1961, their run lasted all the way to issue #102 in 1970.
Creative teams usually don't last that long, especially without a fill-in writer or artist. Lee and Kirby are the original creators of the title, and while Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Bagley worked a longer run in Ultimate Spider-Man, they can't claim to have been with the characters since the beginning.
4 The Fantastic Four Greatly Expanded The Marvel Universe
In addition to being superheroes, the Fantastic Four are explorers. While Spider-Man fights crime in his own backyard and the Avengers keep the peace across the globe, the Fantastic Four have charted more new territories than any other superhero.
Thanks to the Fantastic Four, the Marvel Universe can claim to be home to regions of outer space, negative space, and even microspace. In addition to adding new regions of Earth such as Latveria and Wakanda, alien races like the Skrulls and cosmic beings like Galactus debuted in the pages of Fantastic Four.
3 The Fantastic Four Became A Business Venture
Superhero teams operate in the same way in that they use their collective powers for good, but in terms of functionality, they are quite different. Many teams are funded by rich benefactors, but the Fantastic Four had to become an independent company to provide for their operations.
Reed Richards isn't just the leader of the Fantastic Four, he is also the CEO and primary chairperson of Fantastic Four, Inc. As an income generating company, members such as Sue and later Johnny have had to work to keep the team's finances balanced.
2 The Fantastic Four Effectively Maintain A Small Team
Given that it's in the name, the Fantastic Four keeps its team to only four members. The X-Men are ever-expanding, and the Avengers don't have less than six members, but the Fantastic Four were never about expansion. The Fantastic Four have managed to make major cast changes, but they keep the number consistent.
While the team itself is limited by number, the cast of characters isn't. Supporting characters like Alicia Masters and Wyatt Wingfoot appear frequently in the book, and limiting the number of characters on the team doesn't limit storytelling potential.
1 The Fantastic Four Spun Off Its Characters Into Solo Books
The Avengers are about bringing together a team of characters who already have their own adventures, but the Fantastic Four did the opposite. Characters who were originally in a team book became lead characters. The Human Torch had a feature in the Strange Tales title, and the Thing became the headliner in Marvel Two-in-One. Both characters would get additional ongoing titles through the years. While a large cast book like the X-Men only managed to turn Wolverine into a solo hero, the Fantastic Four have done it with half their characters.